The Food in Spain

The Galicia region of Spain to be exact.

I haven't elaborated much about my trip to Spain, largely because it was a business trip, and initially I was unsure of what if anything I could get away with blogging about. My fears were largely over blown, so now I think I will start with arguably one of the most important things in life... food.

Ah yes sustenance.

Now I ended up working like mad much of the time I was in Spain, and was admittedly a bit intimidated when it came to going into a restaurant by myself. So as you can see, a meal at Burger King is much the same as it is anywhere. Actually I think Burger King is better in Europe than it is in the United States, I feel it has really gone down hill here... and one might argue it was never really that good to begin with. But this Whopper and fries definitely hit the spot.

This trip came upon me rather suddenly, and so I was really unprepared in the communications department, and I found myself in a region where English was not broadly spoken.

The cafeteria at the place I was working did provide some excellent meals which were practically home cooked. Included amongst these was an excellent Spanish rice dish called paella, several fish entrees and roasted chicken. I also had a lentil soup, which was surprisingly delicious, as well as a local vegetable soup (which I think was made with chicken stock... not a lot of vegetarians in Spain). The meal at work was very filling, and I definitely filled up because much of the time I did not get home early enough, or have the energy or brain capacity to go out to eat. Spain does not have very many "take-out" or fast food options either, further limiting my selection.

This advertisement is seen out front of a chain restaurant located in the train station in Santiago de Compestela, an old historic city that I took a day trip to on my one day off. The food pictured is what amounts to a bacon sandwich. It was hands down the saltiest sandwich I have ever eaten. The bread was great, but the bacon was smoked rather than pan fried, giving it a very rubber like texture. I made the mistake of eating in doors here which may have taken a year or two off of my life. Smoking is not outlawed yet in Spanish establishments, and in this joint, pretty much everyone was smoking, I think even the staff was lighting up. It was gorgeous outside and I was kicking my self afterward for not bagging up the goods and finding myself a nice park bench in the sun.
The next photo was room service at the hotel. I intended to order a peperoni pizza, however I pointed to a "gourmet" option by mistake. What I got was a pizza that had a layer of tuna, cheese, anchovies, pineapple, and Spain's version of peperoni which was essentially "Canadian Bacon" with peppercorns in it. In another moment for NaCl, this was the saltiest pizza I have ever had. It wasn't what I wanted at the time, but I was eating this around 10:00 pm and I was starved so 3 quarters of the pie made acquaintance with my digestive system.

Next, On another night after returning home late, I managed to find a small grocery store/ deli. My late night snack here was to be a few cookies and a coke. Not the most nutritious meal, but overall most of my Spanish meals were probably fairly healthy, and appropriately sized portions. This cookie meal, and perhaps my other room service meal were the two exceptions. I didn't eat the whole box in one sitting by the way, just in case you were wondering.

CHICKEN FINGERS!!! (with a vintage "Coke Light") Ah yes, it doesn't get much more unadventurous than that. I could have had a nice Galician Ox Tail soup... but no, I went for the chicken fingers, and damn they were good. The fries were a total surprise, and a pleasant one at that. It came with a great mustard dip, which probably would have passed as a gourmet mayonnaise in the United States, but it was a nice dipping sauce regardless. No ketchup provided, I used the mustard dip and found it to be just as good.

One other night I had purchased some more snacks at a bigger grocery store I had found. I got myself some orange juice, which tasted like liquid centrum vitamins (it was infused with vitamins) and some soda and popcorn. I got home as late as 11:30 a couple nights and was in no mood to eat anything heavy.

On my final night in Spain, some associates took me out for a couple glasses of the local wine. It was very nice, and I wish I had more time to sample some of the finer tastes of Spain. They were headed out to supper after the wine, (Spanish restaurants open around 8-9:00 pm for dinner... different eh?) but I had to be up for 4:30 am for an early return flight. Oh well.